Thymus Hormone Held Major Factor In Aging Process

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ATLANTIC CITY, April 16 (AP)—A key hormone produced by the thymus gland is directly related to the process of aging, University of Texas scientists reported today.

The scientists said that blood levels of the hormone, called thymosin, decreased dramatically with age and that this appeared to be a major factor in the aging process.

Lowered thymosin levels contribute to aging by retarding the ability of the body's natural defense mechanism, the immunological system for combatting disease, according to Dr. Allan Goldstein.

“It has been found,” Dr. Goldstein said, “that thymosin levels decrease significantly between the ages of 25 to 45 in normal individuals. This direct evidence provides a testable hypothesis that decreased immunity with age is due to a defect or inability of the thymus gland to produce thymosin.”

Dr. Goldstein, 35‐year‐old director of the Biochemistry Division at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, described the research to the 57th annual meeting of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology.

“We hope,” he said, “to find a way to increase a patient's immunological response to diseases by manipulating the amount of thymosin in the blood. We know that the injection of mice with thymosin increases their immunity and resistance to disease, and we have good reason to suppose it will do the same in man.”

In another report scientists from the University of Pittsburgh disclosed that a natural body chemical injected into experimental animals had dramatically reversed the effects of overdoses of such depressants as barbiturates and alcohol.

The scientists raised the possibility that synthetic preparations of this chemical, called cyclic AMP, might someday be used in man to counter the effects of barbiturate abuse and of alcohol misuse, if it can be shown that this use of the'’ chemical would be safe.